RUGER 204 STORY

[wildcat]

I thought I would tell this story scince what I saw was impressive. While I was working up loads for my 220 Swift, an older gentlemen set up next to me. He pulled a new rifle chambered in the 204 Ruger. His rifle was pretty basic. He informed me that all he had done to it is put a new barrel on it. I forgot to ask what kind it was, however, everything else on the rifle was stock, no custom work, bedding, truing of the action ect. As I began working up my loads I noticed that the squrriels were out in force at around the 400 yard mark. I took a couple of shots, about five, and was able to connect on three squirrels at that range with my custom 220 Swift. I informed the old boy that there were squirrels running out of control out at about 400 yards. He looked at me and asked me if I would spot for him, I said no problem. He loaded up his 204, topped with a Sightron scope, and he went to work. I thought to myself "there is no way this guy is going to hit those varmints at that range" and by the way there was a slight breeze blowing left to right. Let me tell you, I was wrong to think that previous thought. I had my range finder and he asked my to range one of the nasty little vermin, I called out "Squirrel next to small rock, range 396 yards" He informed me that he can see the pest and lets the 204 rip, Blap!!!!! dead squirrel. I say to my self "good shot, but he was lucky". Once I again, I spot another squirrel at around 412 yards. I let him know, he sees it and Blap!!!! he hits another one. This is starting to interest me, I can not believe that he is hitting these pests at that range with that tiny bullet. Another varmint appears at about the same range, this one is about 405 yards, Blap!!!! he hits it again. I continued to spot for him, he connected on two more squirrels at 387 yards and the last one at 421 yards. I most say, I was quite impressed with the little 204. He informed me that he had been shooting at this range for 10 years and had his scope dialed in for that area, however, it was still impressive in my book. I wanted to tell this story because there are some out there who contemplating buying a new varmint rig and are wondering about the long range performance of the 204. I am here to tell you, it has no problem at all reaching out at 400+ yards and killing squirrels or pdogs. Thanks, Wildcat

P.S. Support the troops and President Bush

 

[Fotis]

Yup my CZ Varmint 204 Rocks!

 

[jeff 300]

i read a post some where that compared the 204 with a 223,22-250 and it had less wind drift and shoots a lot flatter??????????????? looks like a great varmint round

 

[Meister]

204 Ruger-39g Sierra Blitking BC of .287 at 3700fps
223 Rem-55g Sierra Blitzking BC of .271 at 3300fps
22-250 Rem-50g Sierra Blitzking BC of .248 at 3800fps

Ruger did their homework on this caliber, looks like a real performer to me! The better BC will buck the wind better than the standard 50 and 55 grain loading of the 22-250 and the 223 Rem. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif With a 100 yd zero this round drops 35 inches at 500 yards. At the same range it has 25" drift in a 10mph wind at 90 degree angle. carries 366 ft/lbs of force as well.

 

[duckinalaska]

wildcat,
Thanks for the story. You guys keep this up and I'm going to end up purchasing one of those rigs. I've heard nothing but good things about those 204's.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

Is it legitimate to compare the 204 ruger to the Swift? Only reason I ask is because all the velocity hype. The 204 advertises what, 4200fps with the 32g vmax. Swift owners can get 4400fps with a 40g btip or vmax. If you move up to the heavier weight in a 204 ruger, I dont even know the weights, but saya 40g, its down to 3900, with a swift you can still obtain at least 4000 with a 50g. When I bought my swift at sportsmans warehouse, the guy was trying to sell me on a 204 ruger BAD. I just told him I was already set on a Swift and that was that. Not to down anyone with a 204, but I think the caliber has gotten way better reviews then the swift ever did, and I dont see how its really all that much better. But, thats just if you compare it to the swift. I dont know if thats a fair comparison or not??? At say 600 yards, the 55g btip out of a swift at 3900fps is going to be superior to that 204, thats all I know.

 

[1doug]

The 204 does all that with less powder, throat erosion, recoil than the swift. But for a balistics comparison only the swift wins hands down. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[lerch]

my dad owns a 204 and he liked the gun a lot when he first got it. After he and many of his friends wounding coyotes only to have them run off he decided to get a 243win and use the 70gr ballistic tip, coyotes just fall over now!!!!

I may be mistaken but I thought I had heard that no one had been able to reproduce the velocities claimed by Hornady???

I am not saying anything bad about the caliber, I think it is pretty slick. I just dont think it is quite as good as it is hyped up to be.

 

[goodgrouper]

I have been loading for the 204 since the first month they came out and I have been loading for a swift for 10 years and I can honestly say that they have similiar trajectories with a slight edge going to the 204. Energy wise, the swift with 55 grain bullets has a little more thump past 700 yards which is at the far end of that calibers range. However, I have blasted 8 pound chucks with the 204 out to around 700 yards and had great success.

Run the numbers:
55 grain .22 blitzking at 3900
40 grain .20 Vmax at 3900

Almost identical wind drift and drop. Only energy is different and it is not different by much as far as varmints are concerned.

 

[goodgrouper]

[ QUOTE ]
I may be mistaken but I thought I had heard that no one had been able to reproduce the velocities claimed by Hornady???



[/ QUOTE ]

This has been said many times before and I can only wonder who is doing the loading? I have had 28.5 grains of Benchmark and 28.0 grains of H4895 push the 40 grainers over 3900 fps easily from a 24" barrel with safe pressures.

People have said that they load 204 from the factory with some magical powder we as reloaders can't get our hands on. Well, yeah. But guess what, ALL of the ammo you buy in the store is loaded with powder you can't get any other way.

 

[lerch]

Well like I said "I might be mistaken"

I havent ever loaded for the 204, I am just not a huge fan of it. I like a little more bullet hitting what I am trying to kill. I have been really impressed at what it can do to a pdog at 100yds, RED MIST!!!

Where ya been GG, aint heard from ya in a while


take it easy
steve

 

[goodgrouper]

I hear ya on the red mist!!

Been off the computer awhile. Loading ammo and testing bc's a bunch lately.

 

[Meister]

I've been hearing about overstated fps, I got my info from hogdon. They seem to have pretty realistic numbers. The 204 is what it is, a great new job-specific tool. A light recoil, high BC, economical varmint round for small game. I'm happy to see a manufacturer go for a niche slot instead of following the lemmings and making a supershort-mega-ultra-magnum, when a current well established round already has the same speed/caliber/weight. My 2 cents....

 

[wildcat]

Remington 25-06, I do not care what anybody else sis. The 220 swift will out perform a 204 no matter what. I just wanted to give the 204 some props. You mad the right choice by getting a 220 Swift. I am currently working up loads, but I love it. I just had my 220 Swift built, Trued Remington action in Speedy Gozalaz Sleeve, blue printed to a 1/14 twist Lilja 27" barrel, .930 at the muzzel with Holland Brake, McMillan A-4, Jewell 2oz Trigger, Kelby Rings topped with a Nightforce 5.5x22x56mm NXS. It weighs around 15 to 16 pounds. During barrel break in, I shot a 3 shot group, at 100 yards, that measured .139. The kicker is I was using factory loaded ammunition, Winchester Extreame with 40grn Ballistic Silvertips. I can't wait to see what it does with my own loads. The 220 Swift got a lot of bad press in its early development and it has carried over in todays discussions. However, many things have changed including better reloading componets, better barrels, ect. If your looking for a 22 caliber varmint rig and you are an RF (Reloading Freek)like myself, then the 220 Swift is the caliber to have. If your not a big RF, but you like to reload sometimes than maybe the 22-250 is the way to go. If you don't like to reload at all than the 223 and the 204 are probably the better choice. I have owned a 22-250, I previously own a 223 and 220 Swift and by far the 220 Swift is my favorite out of the 22 calibers. I have always been impressed with the Swift's performance compared to the others. I just wanted to let people know that if they were thinking about a 204, for a varmint rig, it appeared to be a great caliber. However, if you want more power for longer ranges, than go with 220 Swift or 22-250. The only advantage the 204 has over the 223, 22-250 and 220 Swift, it has less recoil. Well let me tell you, I have a Holland Brake on my Swift and it barley moves. Talk about seeing varmints blow up in the class, having a brake on a 220 Swift is fun. Good shootin, Wildcat.

P.S. If anybody reading this post has a good load for a 220 Swift, I am looking for some feed back. I am going to try some 55grn Ballistic Tips, H414 powder and 210M primers. I am using Norma Brass. I am looking for my velocity to be around 3800 fps. My Barrel is a 1/14 twist, so I am thinking I might have better luck with 50grn or 40grn Ballistic tips. I would like to shoot the 55grn for more range capability and better wind bucking performance. Any feed back would be great.